This hero was the son of Jupiter and Danae, the daughter of Acresius. As
the latter had confined his daughter in a brazen tower, to prevent her
becoming a mother, because, according to the words of an oracle, he was to
perish by the hands of his daughter's son, Perseus was no sooner born, than
Acresius caused him to be thrown into the sea, with his mother, Danae. The
hopes of the father were frustrated; for the slight bark which carried
Danae and her son, was driven on the island of Seriphos, one of the
Cyclades, where they were found by a fisherman named Dictys, and carried by
him to Polydectes, the monarch of the place, by whom they were received
with much kindness, and the priests of Minerva's temple had the charge of
the youthful Perseus entrusted to them.
His rising genius and great courage fell under the displeasure of
Polydectes, who feared, lest the love with which he soon became inspired
towards Danae, and the intentions which he harboured towards her, should
meet with the resentment of her son. The monarch, however, resolved to
remove every obstacle out of his way, and made a sumptuous banquet,
decreeing that all who came should present him with a beautiful horse. To
this feast Perseus was invited, Polydectes being aware that he would not be
able to procure the present which the wealth of the remaining guests could
enable them to offer.
To a high spirited man this was unbearable, and unable to submit to the
position of being the only one who had brought no present, and unwilling to
appear inferior to the remainder of the guests in splendour, he told
Polydectes, that though he was unable to give him a horse, he would bring
him the head of one of the Gorgons, and Medusa being the only one subject
to mortality, she must be the victim.
For more than one reason this was very agreeable to Polydectes, in the
first place, as it would remove Perseus from the island, and the next that,
from its seeming impossibility, the attempt might end in his ruin.
The gods, however, are the protectors of innocence, and that of Perseus was
made their peculiar care. Pluto lent him his helmet, possessing the
wonderful power of making the bearer invisible. The buckler of Minerva, as
resplendent as glass, was given him by {190} that goddess. Mercury gave him
wings and the Calaria, with a short dagger formed of diamonds. With this
assistance Perseus boldly commenced his expedition, traversing the air,
conducted by Minerva. He went first to the Graces, the sisters of the
Gorgons, who possessed but one eye and one tooth among the three; with the
assistance of Pluto's helmet, which rendered him invisible, Perseus was
able to steal their eye and their tooth while sleeping, and refused to
return them until they had informed him where their sisters, the Gorgons
resided.
When the necessary information had been received, Perseus sought the
habitation of the Gorgons, whom he fortunately found asleep. Knowing that
if he fixed his eyes upon them, he would be changed to stone, he used his
shield, which was transparent, as a mirror to reflect the object he sought
to destroy. Keeping his eyes thus fixed upon them, he approached, Minerva
supporting his courage, and with one blow of his sword, cut off Medusa's
head.
The noise of the blow awoke the two remaining sisters, who frantic with
rage, looked around for the murderer of their sister, but in vain, for he
had already put on the invisible helmet of Pluto, and the attempts of the
Gorgons to avenge the death of the sister were fruitless.
The conqueror pursued his way through the air, and from the blood which
dropped from the head of the slain Gorgon he carried with him, arose the
innumerable serpents which have for ages infested the sandy deserts of
Lybia.
"Where western waves on furthest Lybia beat,
Dreadful Medusa fixed her horrid seat.
'Twas from this monster, to afflict mankind,
That nature first produced the snaky kind:
On her at first their forky tongues appeared,
From her their dreadful hissings first were heard."